Ireland bids to secure €1bn research budget
The agreement to provide €60bn for research EU-wide over six year’s under the title Horizon 2020 was negotiated during the Irish presidency by Research Minister Séan Sherlock.
The deal was given the unanimous support of the pivotal Industry, Research, and Energy committee, and is now assured of the support of the entire parliament when the full EU budget for 2014-2020 comes up later this year.
Mr Sherlock said he expects Irish researchers will have won €600m in grants from the current fund but the target has been increased to €1bn for the next programme, and he was confident that this could be achieved.
“Having been involved in the negotiations over the programme, I know we will be in a position to attain this as there are many, many areas where both our academic institutions and business will qualify,” said Mr Sherlock.
“Areas like food, aging, and energy will present real opportunities for Irish researchers to draw down funding, and this will be helped by the new policy structures we have set in place that concentrates on these themes and covers both academic institutions and industry.”
Emphasis on collaboration between industry and research should provide concrete benefits in terms of new products and growth, he added.
He also paid tribute to Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the research and innovation commissioner, who oversaw the initial design of the new programme that comprises the single biggest research fund possibly in the world.
Horizon 2020 focuses on three separate pillars: excellence in largely academic-based blue-sky research; supporting industry in innovative areas; and addressing the so called “grand challenges” such as food and energy security, climate change and demographic trends.
A fifth of the funding should go towards small and medium-sized businesses and there will dedicated funding for smaller innovative companies.
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